The present invention is an aluminous cement-mortar composition molding material castable into a mold and relates to a ceramic tile-like aluminous cement-uncalcined building material prepared therefrom extremely useful in broad segments of building materials. Despite the fact that it is an uncalcined material, unlike calcined products such as ceramic tiles, it has a superior and attractive surface gloss just like that of ceramic tiles, further excels in hardness, reduced water-absorption properties, strength and resistance against acid, heat and weather and other improved material properties.
Heretofore, so-called ceramic tile has been widely used as a building material because of its excellence in surface gloss, hardness, water-resisting qualities, strength and other material properties. However, ceramic tile can only become a finished product after going through a calcination process, which inevitably entails a very cumbersome operation and costly instrumentation. Such drawbacks are magnified in the production of large-sized or intricate-shaped ceramic tiles. These put major limitations upon the utilization of ceramic tiles.
The inventors of the present invention have conducted a systematic research with the objective of developing a satisfactory substitute for the ceramic tile or a ceramic tile-like building material, which eliminates these disadvantages inherent in the ceramic tile or other ceramic building materials.
In Japanese Patent No. 1585864 (Oct. 31, 1990), "Ceramic tile-like Aluminous Cement-Uncalcined Building Material," by Jiro Fujimasu, it was found that a ceramic tile-like aluminous cement-uncalcined building material can be produced by simply casting in a mold an aluminous cement-mortar composition composed of aggregate and a specific composition comprised of (1) aluminous cement, (2) at least one of montmorillonite, acid clay and bentonite, (3) at least one of zirconium oxide and magnesium oxide and (4) at least one alkali metal stearate and alkali earth metal stearate provide a material having an excellent and attractive ceramic tile-like surface gloss, when hardened, despite it being an uncalcined material, in addition to other desirable material properties including superb hardness, reduced water-absorption property, strength, acid resistance, heat resistance and weather resistance.
However, inherent defects of aluminous cement such as solidification delay around the curing temperature of 30.degree. C. and a decline in strength due to a crystalline transition could not be eliminated. The present invention resolves these problems.
According to the results of the research conducted by the inventor of the present invention, the said ceramic tile-like uncalcined building material of the present invention may be easily produced by a process technique similar to that for a conventional mortar composition being cast in a mold. In comparison with other ceramic building materials, it was further found that the material is very superior in that it can be produced with considerable ease at a very reasonable cost in terms of the manufacturing process, the equipment needed and the costs involved. Particularly, in contrast with ceramic tiles which inevitably require far more complicated and expensive manufacturing process if they are to be large in size and intricate in shape and design, the invented material was found to have a decisive advantage in industrial production, due to the extreme ease and low cost of manufacturing.
The research further established the fact that the material can be freely colored to a desired color tone by simply blending suitable pigment with the mortar composition, as opposed to ceramic building material which is subject to a major constraint of possible color change during the calcination process, and that it is easy to change and adjust within a certain range the strength, weight per unit volume and other material properties of the material as required. In other words, the material's advantage as a building material lies in its capacity to allow choice and change of strength, weight and the like, depending on the object of its application.
The objective of this invention, therefore, is to provide a ceramic tile-like aluminous cement-uncalcined building material which is a mortar composition castable into a mold to provide molded articles having an excellent and attractive ceramic tile-like surface gloss, despite the fact that it is an uncalcined material and which do not suffer from the inherent defects of aluminous cement such as solidification delay at the curing temperature of 30.degree. C. and a decline in strength due to a crystalline transition.
The objective, just stated, and many other purposes of the present invention as well as its advantages will be further illustrated clearly by the following descriptions.